%%%%%%%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!%%%%%%!!Trope Namer* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', the {{Trope Namer|s}}. Everything revolutionary about it from its observational humor to its UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist cast is now the standard for every SitCom made since. In fact, even if ''Seinfeld'' was revolutionary it still makes use of a LaughTrack (via ExecutiveMeddling). Ouch.** One of the show's biggest indicators of this effect is the episode "The Chinese Restaurant". Now, it looks like a rather standard, funnier-than-average sitcom episode. In fact, in 1990, the idea of three characters standing around in a restaurant, complaining and bantering as they waited for a table in real time for 23 minutes, was considered almost completely unworkable by the network executives. They actually thought that there were pages missing from the script they were given. They fought the episode tooth and nail all the way to air date, fearing that it would be a disaster. Anyone who watches an episode from season 3 onwards of ''Seinfeld'', then an episode from season 2, then "The Chinese Restaurant", would be unlikely to catch the brilliance of that episode, but they will undoubtedly notice a massive shift in quality and humor between the two seasons.** "The Betrayal" was another episode that was unique and innovative at the time, as it started at the end of the story, and progressively jumped backwards to the beginning. At the time this was a unique and fresh approach to TV story telling. Now that same gimmick has been done to death in countless other Sitcoms. The episode "The Betrayal" is an homage to Harold Pinter's 1978 play Betrayal. Both the play and its 1983 film adaptation use a reverse-chronological plot structure. ** The show's frank discussions of sexuality were edgy, and beyond what was the norm of Sitcoms at the time. Now it's not as obvious what a big deal it was for a primetime comedy to discuss, and make jokes about homosexuality, pornography, masturbation and diaphragms.** It's the ''show'' that's being referred to in this trope; what you may think of Jerry Seinfeld as a comedian is largely irrelevant (Jerry's stand-up segments were, even at the time, generally the ''least'' funny part of the episode; this ''may'' have been intentional, or it may just be that Jerry's brand of humor, while fresh and new for a sitcom, was pretty old hat for a stand-up comedian even then).** The famous bass-heavy musical cues are another example. Today, it's pretty standard for sitcoms to use minimalist musical cues and relegate them almost entirely to scene transitions. But, in 1990, this was something completely new, as sitcoms at the time generally used more elaborate scene-transition music and had special [[SentimentalMusicCue mood appropriate music]] reserved for dramatic moments (something Seinfeld was almost completely void of).** ''Seinfeld'' is even responsible for popularizing ProductPlacement on television. Back when the series was first in production, the idea of name-dropping real brands instead of using a BlandNameProduct made up for the show was so foreign that, in an interesting reversal, the ''show'' had to pay the ''companies'' to use their products. Now, of course, real-life products are used and/or shilled (depending on whether they're going for realism or commercialism) in just about every live-action series in existence.

!!Series* [[http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/12/15/cliche-busters-that-became-cliches/ As explained by TV critic Jaime Weinman]], a number of jokes common in television comedy were originally subversions of other jokes, but have since become just as stale and formulaic, [[DeadHorseTrope to the point of being parodied themselves]]. For instance, a character complaining about another character, then asking, "He's RightBehindMe, isn't he?" was originally a clever LampshadeHanging on the older recurring device where a character would walk within earshot ''just'' as another character was complaining about him or her. Now it's considered hacky, leading to parody on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' and [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1814134 CollegeHumor]].* When premium cable networks began to emerge in the 1980s, the idea of TV series featuring explicit sex scenes, nudity, extreme violence and language (and sometimes all of the above) were considered cutting-edge and "very, very adult". Today, with sex, violence and language all but universal on made-for-cable and streaming series (other than those specifically made for children), and with mainstream commercial networks occasionally exceeding the explicitness of broadcasters like HBO 20 years ago, viewers and critics have begun to note how such content is become rather blase and no longer as edgy as it used to appear.* When Norman Lear made the pilot for ''Series/AllInTheFamily'', he decided to use videotape instead of film to give the viewing audience the sense of being in the studio. Then every sitcom used videotape for the next 20 years and it became associated with hackneyed, lowbrow productions. ''All in the Family'' is neither hackneyed nor lowbrow, but the production value tells a different story.** Also strikingly {{averted}} in that the show's frank discussions of prejudice, politics, and racism are still considered edgy even by today's standards.* Reichen & Chip winning Season 4 of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' might not seem like a big deal now, but in 2003 a pair of ManlyGay guys in a loving, stable relationship excelling at a physically and mentally based competition was a huge deal, to the point that it was one of the the main story lines of the season, especially near the end, and their kiss at the Finish Line was hugely controversial, and was even censored in many places. In comparison, when gay couple Brent & Josh kissed after winning Season 21 in 2012, people barely batted an eye at their relationship or their kiss at the Finish Line. * While talent shows existed, none would reach the popularity of ''Series/AmericanIdol''. American Idol paved the way for many other talent shows, each with varying levels of success. Today, many people who didn't grow up watching American Idol don't see the appeal of a group of teenagers and young adults singing in front of judges.* ''Series/AmericasFunniestHomeVideos'' allowed average people to send in funny home movies for all of America to see. Revolutionary in 1990 but as the Internet expanded throughout the decade, it made sending videos to the show seem dated in comparison to uploading them online. Bob Saget himself even mentioned this before he left the show in 1997, saying that people were finding websites (even before Website/YouTube) for sharing their funny home videos. Despite the show still being on the air to this date, he felt the show had become pointless by the time he left and he honestly didn't think it would last much longer.* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has slowly seemed less and less innovative as the traits it pioneered or popularized spread among sci-fi shows:** It was the first major American sci-fi show to have major long-term story arcs planned in advance. While British and Japanese shows had been working with story arcs lasting multiple episodes for a long time by that point, American sci-fi television still largely hewed to an episodic MonsterOfTheWeek format. ''Babylon 5'' was written from a full outline for all five seasons, nearly unheard of at the time, and while [[RealLifeWritesThePlot real-life production difficulties did force some changes]] at various points, by and large it stuck to the plan.** It was the first sci-fi series (and one of the first, if not the first, series of any genre) to be filmed in widescreen.** It gave the DarkerAndEdgier future and UsedFuture, in contradiction to ''Franchise/StarTrek''[='=]s utopia, a heavy boost of popularity (though it was nowhere near first with these).** It gave CharacterDevelopment and character-driven drama unheard-of levels of focus for a science-fiction TV series. While there obviously was some of this in past series (e.g. in the two previous ''Star Trek'' iterations), none quite put as much focus as ''B5'' until ''[=DS9=]'' - which ran concurrently and was its friendly rival for the same audience.** It intentionally avoided the former trope known as "Cute Kids And Robots". In fact, the term was coined in reference to ''B5'' in order to describe what Creator/JMichaelStraczynski was declaring war on within TV sci-fi.** It pioneered the use of CGI effects, especially for anything involving spaceships. To put it in perspective: the producers of ''Deep Space Nine'' scoffed at ''B5''[='=]s CGI and proudly announced that they would continue to use models. When ''Voyager'' launched, it not only used CGI, but used the same production house as ''B5'' to make it. ''Deep Space Nine'' itself also switched from necessity once they started doing mass battle scenes.*** The main issue for ''B5''[='=]s pioneering CGI was that it was early CGI. When compared screen-for-screen with the pure-CGI that turned up later in ''[=DS9=]'' and ''Voyager'', ''B5''[='=]s CGI [[ConspicuousCG looks poor]] (and even looked poor at the time, especially in any sequences involving human-scale interactions). This is the primary reason CGI was disregarded - it needed to come up in quality or the difference from miniature-led effects would've been far too jarring. ''B5'' was a pioneer, but came a little too early for its CGI imagery to be really anything impressive.* ''Series/{{Becker}}'' was about a cantankerous doctor... no, not that one... not that one, either. The character - and show - were eclipsed first by John C. [=McGinley=] as Perry Cox in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', then by Hugh Laurie as Gregory ''Series/{{House}}''. It's easy to forget that ''Becker'' had a respectable life span of six seasons and was one of the better sitcoms in a lean period after ''Seinfeld'' but before ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', either version of ''Series/TheOffice'', ''Series/ThirtyRock'' or ''Series/{{Community}}''.* Despite now being remembered mostly for its NarmCharm, ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' actually dealt with some pretty heavy issues for a teen show during the early-90's. While Canadians were enjoying ''Series/DegrassiHigh''[='=]s honest depictions of teenage angst, Americans were (at least on television) limited mostly to light and goofy depictions of high school life like ''Series/SavedByTheBell''. ''90210'', when it premiered, was very controversial for the way it sympathetically depicted serious issues like sex and cocaine addiction, as before then, characters who engaged in such activity on teen television were generally either demonized or made to quit after one episode. Today, given how much high school dramas have evolved ever since, the show is remembered mostly for its hideously dated fashions, blatantly obvious DawsonCasting, and heavy amounts of melodrama.* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. Before there was ''Series/BabylonFive'', ''Series/TheXFiles'', ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', and the DarkerAndEdgier ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' reimagining, there was this. In 1978, your sci-fi show protagonists were heroic, and landed firmly on the good morality scale. The villains looked like idiots at the end. Everything was supposed to be shiny, and the future was supposed to be better. Even if you had rebels fighting an evil empire, they were supposed to strike and win! Instead, we had a bunch of criminals, mercenaries, and a failed revolutionary stealing a ship and using it for a personal vendetta. The "rebellion" never got above seven people, the villainess was one of the most cunning characters to strut across a screen in stiletto heels, and the whole thing ended on [[spoiler: [[KillThemAll one protagonist murdering the other]] and [[BolivianArmyEnding getting a summary execution from the Federation troops]]]]. However, it doesn't seem like anything shocking after gorging on anything made past 1992, where ''every'' sci-fi setting is a CrapsackWorld, the "heroes" are dubious at best, and the best ending you'll manage is a BittersweetEnding.* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld (specifically the [[AcademyOfAdventure School of Adventure]] aspect), as well as the HalfArcSeason with its own personal BigBad, and not just a general MythArc with a singular Big Bad behind the entire series. ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' hews closest to this structure, with the revamped ''Series/DoctorWho'' following close behind. The [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer 1992 movie]] had already trodden that ground in establishing the origins of Buffy herself, but not so many people saw that flick at the time. TheReveal that shallow, popular Cordelia was [[ObfuscatingStupidity actually an ace student]] was a surprise joke at the time. Now it is a cliché to have the seemingly BookDumb ditzy, shallow girl in the cast be much brighter than she seems. Also the Buffy/Angel romance. Back then it was an unusual take on the whole BeastAndBeauty theme. Then we got ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', ''Series/TrueBlood'', ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''...* The show referred to as "Canadian Seinfeld", ''Series/CornerGas'', got this reputation. At the time, it was groundbreaking to have a rural setting with normal, suburban characters, and the fact that they had no relationships or hookups between a single, adult main cast. It's also the first major Canadian sitcom to make an impact in the US, and the first sitcom to feature the country's head of state appear while in office (Prime Ministers Paul Martin and Stephen Harper as well as Governor General Adrienne Clarkson) and used many, many {{Cutaway Gag}}s. Nonetheless, younger viewers see it as boring and unfunny.* ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' suffers greatly from this trope. With all the shows that patterned themselves after it (if not ripping it off outright), younger viewers might openly scoff that this is the show that saved the SitCom format when it debuted ('''especially''' if they've seen only the latter seasons, where SeasonalRot set in). Nowadays, it's known less for how it revolutionized television and more for [[HarsherInHindsight sitting under the cloud]] of Creator/BillCosby's real-life personal troubles.* ''Series/{{CSI}}''. With the ongoing slew of crime procedural TV shows, it's difficult to realize that when it came out, a plot involving crime forensics and laboratory work was considered as fresh and clever.** Then you realize that ''Series/QuincyME'' [[OlderThanTheyThink was doing that long before]] ''CSI'' came out, predating both that and ''Series/{{Bones}}'' by decades, just without all the gratuitous gore tossed in.* The PrimeTimeSoap genre arguably rose to prominence in the 1980's thanks to the success of ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' and ''Series/{{Dynasty}}'', two long-running shows that focused on the power and glamour of being rich, backstabbing, shocking plot twists and lots of sex. While some of their main cliffhangers are still well-remembered (''Dallas''[='=]s dream season, ''Dynasty''[='=]s Moldavian Massacre), it's difficult for modern audiences to understand what the big deal is when the subject matter looks downright tame and restrained compared to the tidal wave of imitators in the years afterwards that went much further with their shocking storylines and sexual content. Even the teaser trailer for the rebooted ''Dallas'' emphasizes sex scenes with more skin than anything the original series ever showed. Other primetime soaps would get this treatment as well:** ''Series/CentralParkWest'' was hyped as the most risque and shocking series of the 90's, with more violence and sexual content than any other program on television at the time. Nowadays, it's difficult to look at the series and see what the big deal is, when shows like ''Series/TheOC'' and ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' have done everything ''CPW'' did and more.* Creator/DavidLetterman. His whole comedic sensibility (Middle American pop-culture-obsessed smartass, with a dash of intellectualism) was incredibly fresh and innovative in the early '80s, and exactly the kick in the pants that the stale TV talk show format needed. These days it's hard to find a talk show '''not''' heavily influenced by Letterman (even his short-lived 1980 morning show has {{Spiritual Adaptation}}s like ''Ellen''), so people really take him for granted now.* ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'' (and its sequel series, ''Series/DegrassiHigh'') were critical and commercial darlings when they premiered in the 1980s. ''Degrassi'' was the first TeenDrama that dealt with teen pregnancy, underage drinking, and other such issues without censorship, DeusExMachina happy endings, or the over-the-top melodrama of an Series/AfterschoolSpecial. It also amazed critics that [[ParentsAsPeople the adults aren't always right]], or that when they are, a teen might not listen to the GoldenMoment speech. Plus, it put in just enough SoapOpera and continuity to make you care about the characters. More recent Teen Dramas (largely influenced by ''Degrassi'' itself) go much further with all of this, until the older show looks like the very sort of Afterschool Special it was rebelling against. Fans of ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' often find the older show quaint.** The sequel series ended with a DarkerAndEdgier GrandFinale, "School's Out", that attracted controversy for showing nudity (a single shot) and a PrecisionFStrike ("You were fucking Tessa Campanelli?") during pre-watershed hours. In the intervening years, cable television has gone much farther with swearing on television, to the point that anyone watching "School's Out" would fail to see what the big deal is. Better yet, the mature subject matter (exemplified by two of the characters getting into a car crash and a man cheating on his girlfriend with another classmate) has been continually topped by ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration''.* ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' is a well-written, well-acted, classic American sitcom, but modern audiences would probably find major cliches in every episode because every plot involves many major sitcom tropes and conventions. However, those tropes still would have been pretty new in [[TheSixties the early '60s]], and the plots develop the sitcoms tropes a little more than later sitcoms would.* ''Series/DoctorWho''. Some of the older stories were thought-provoking, mesmerizing, and quite frightening to their audience. But now, they might be looked at as having poor pacing and production values. And anyone who thinks ''Doctor Who'' is a very lame sci-fi cliché and dumbing down of the genre should be asked to remember that it premiered in 1963.** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen Tomb of the Cybermen]] is a textbook example made all the more interesting because it was, for almost 25 years, a LostEpisode. It was one of the many victims of the great BBC purges in the 1960s. During the time it was lost, it achieved a legendary status among the Doctor Who fandom, being hyped up as the holy grail of '60s Doctor Who, a masterpiece that was tragically destroyed. In one of the most surprising finds in the history of the series, in 1991, a complete copy of the serial containing all four episodes was found in Hong Kong. Immediately, the BBC rushed a VHS release of the serial... which was promptly thrashed by critics. They found it too slow, methodical, and contemplative, with cheesy acting and not nearly enough action... which was the norm for '60s science fiction. It also didn't help that a lot of the racial politics within the serial, while perhaps unremarkable for the mid-'60s, [[ValuesDissonance hadn't aged well either]].** The Season 2 finale, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E9TheTimeMeddler The Time Meddler]]", was a WhamEpisode at the time because it was the first story pitting the Doctor against another alien force in a historical period - up until then, historical stories and science fiction stories had been entirely discrete, so TheReveal that the Monk is another time traveller was a huge twist that broke the established rules of the show. Of course, the 'historical' (a story taking place in a historical period with no sci-fi beyond that of the time travel itself) is a format all but abandoned after the Creator/WilliamHartnell era, so modern viewers checking out his stories often find it more surprising when the Doctor goes into the past and aliens ''don't'' show up.** It's quite difficult for viewers whose only knowledge of ''Doctor Who'' comes from the revival series to understand why it was such a [[DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER massive source of fandom rage]] when the Doctor had TheBigDamnKiss with his companion in [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie The TV Movie]]. Ever since the revival series, the show has been very romance-focused, and fans who grew up without the old series' NoHuggingNoKissing have real trouble imagining the show without sexuality. In fact, those fans may look at the romance between the Eighth Doctor and Grace as very subtle and low-key in comparison to what the show gets away with now, since it's transitory and based around heat-of-the-moment feelings - compare to the character-arc-dominating romance between the Tenth Doctor and [[OneTrueLove Rose]], or how the Eleventh Doctor not only has a lot of offscreen sex with various female characters and leers over other ones but even gets ''married''...** On a similar level is [[ExtremeOmnisexual Jack Harkness]], the first openly LGBT character on-screen[[note]]there was a lesbian subtext to the Classic Series companion Ace and the expanded universe already had Izzy Sinclair from "Doctor Who Magazine" come out as lesbian[[/note]], and a scene where he kisses the Ninth Doctor in the Series 1 finale "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays The Parting of the Ways]]" in 2005. At the time it was a source of major controversy. However after the mass of more explicit sexual references and humour in the New series, with openly homosexual and bisexual characters Jack's LGBT status doesn't seem such a major thing. The S1 finale scene feels quite subdued, especially as it comes right after Jack kisses Rose in the same way and not much attention is drawn to it.** Sometimes people criticise the theme music for having a cheesy BMovie alien {{Theremin}}-like sound in the intro (such as [[http://31.media.tumblr.com/0398d736eed70fd604c1633e30a95162/tumblr_msl5mrZoI31re29cro1_500.jpg this comic]]. While the theme music used in the new show is a significant change from the theme used in the 1960s and 1970s, the original ''Doctor Who'' theme is held in great esteem by musical historians as a pioneering and classic piece of ElectronicMusic that invented a whole bunch of new techniques. It should also be observed that the melody was [[DancingBear played partially on modded tone generator equipment intended for electrical testing]] as the synthesisers on which it could be easily achieved now had not yet been invented - not to mention that it dates back to before the cliche ''was'' a cliche. The use of it in the modern orchestrated theme is as homage to this, even though it may come off as jarring in the context of the music to new fans with no history with ''Doctor Who''.** The Second Doctor invented the clownish, ComicalOverreacting Doctor stuck in some really dark settings - the characterisation that every single Doctor after him drew on to varying degrees[[note]]not that the First Doctor wasn't also a really funny character, but the comedy was much more understated and mostly situational compared to the funny-boned Second[[/note]]. He remains very popular, but some people find it difficult to adjust to such an unironic funny-Doctor if you're familiar with the funny (but [[CreepyGood scary]] and [[CuteAndPsycho stark-raving bonkers]]) Fourth Doctor, or the funny (but [[SadClown deeply repressed]]) Eleventh Doctor. * Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian, one of the first American celebrities to do so, and later that year her character Ellen Morgan came out as a lesbian on the TV show "Ellen", making Ellen DeGeneres the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on television. This was a HUGE controversy which would not be a controversy at all today.* ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'', when it first premiered in the Fall of 1996, stood out among other family sitcoms in that its focus was more on the parents than on the children. In fact, the children were, in many episodes, just [[LivingProp Living Props]] (even the intro points this out, with Raymond assuring the audience "It's not about the kids"). Given that many family sitcoms thereafter have focused more on the parents than on the children, the series doesn't seem quite as unique now as it used to (being that, aside from this one crucial difference, it was actually a pretty run-of-the-mill sitcom for the most part). Another groundbreaking aspect was introducing the UglyGuyHotWife scenario (until then only present on NewspaperComics and [[WesternAnimation cartoon shows]]) which quickly replaced the ModelCouple paradigm prevalent until then. * As noted in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's review, ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' was initially considered ambitious because it was "edgy" for its time (at least, compared to other Black Sitcoms). Nowadays, it's seen as somewhat goofy (though still critically respected).* While ''Series/{{Friends}}'' is still regarded as funny, and a benchmark that other comedy sitcoms try to reach, the impact it had is largely forgotten after the slew of other shows that followed.** At the time, it was unique for a show to have a cast of young people who could be romantically paired up in many different ways. Pretty much every heterosexual combination between the main cast was explored during the series (except for Ross and Monica, of course). This type of series premise has since become the norm.** ''Friends'' was, at the time, also unique for delving into the trials and tribulations of twenty-something life, a demographic that had, until then, been mostly ignored by television and was just gaining cinematic recognition through movies like ''Film/RealityBites''. Today, at least half of all prime time sitcoms are about people in their twenties and early thirties.** Things like the coffee house, now a cliché, were actually considered 'too hip' by the executives, and they had to be talked into accepting it.** When the Pilot was filmed, NBC actually screened audiences to see if they thought Monica having sex with Paul on a first date would make her seem slutty. Given what women on network television get away with these days, it's hard to believe such a thing was cause for concern among network executives in 1994.** Ross and Rachel. Thanks to a combination of ValuesDissonance and SeinfeldIsUnfunny, a lot of younger fans who got on board after the show was cancelled are watching [[AwfulWeddedLife their relationship]] [[MakeUpOrBreakUp pan out]] and questioning what made it so popular. While it's easy now to pinpoint everything that was wrong with them as a couple ([[ItsAllAboutMe pettiness]], [[NoAccountingForTaste having very little in common]], [[CrazyJealousGuy jealousy issues]], etc.), during the mid-'90s, such a relationship was seen as fresh and unique. Before then, the GiveGeeksAChance trope was rarely (if ever) represented in television, and even in film, it was still seen as a refreshing break from the predictable "pretty boy gets the hot girl" trope so prevalent until the mid-'80s. Today, with the GiveGeeksAChance trope being more-or-less played out and the culture as a whole taking a much more cynical view of the DoggedNiceGuy, it might be hard for younger fans to really appreciate how significant the Ross and Rachel romance was nearly 20 years ago.** We find out in the pilot that Ross' ex-wife Carol is a lesbian. Their son Ben is raised mostly by Carol and her partner Susan. In the second season, Carol and Susan get married. At the time, 1996, same-sex marriage was illegal in every state,[[note]]Technically, it was legal in Hawaii under a court order, but the order was stayed. It was not immediately clear in 1996 that same-sex marriage would be illegal for very long, at least not in Hawaii... which, when it comes to places to get married, is a darn good one. Same-sex marriage would be banned in Hawaii in 1998 when voters passed a referendum amending the state constitution allowing the state legislature to limit marriage to heterosexual couples, which the legislature promptly did; marriage equality would not return to Hawaii until 2013, when the legislature repealed the law it had passed in 1998 and officially allowed same-sex marriages for the first time.[[/note]] and no ''country'' in the world yet had full marriage for same-sex couples (the first was the Netherlands in 2001), yet there were no references to this in the show. No characters, aside from Carol's unseen parents, object to the wedding save for Ross - and he's only upset because he still loves Carol. (In a sweet moment, he ends up walking her down the aisle.) A few network affiliates refused to air the episode, but it was the highest-rated program that week. Today, same-sex weddings and couples raising children are becoming increasingly commonplace on TV, for example in ''Modern Family''.** Of course, everything ''Friends'' did, ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' did ''first''. Sam and Diane are the TropeCodifier of BelligerentSexualTension and WillTheyOrWontThey of American sitcoms. The writing was so good it withstood being in ''last place'' in its time slot til it was discovered widely. (''Cheers'' was also built on the bones of ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', and would spin off ''Series/{{Frasier}}''.)* ''Series/HellsKitchen''. Originally, one of the greatest appeals of the show was that the main chef, Gordon Ramsay, was unafraid to yell at the contestants for screwing up, as opposed to the insufferably nice chefs that were common in the genre. Now, thanks to the popularity of the show, such rough chefs are now considered the default in the genre, and as a result, it can be difficult for a new viewer to see what once made the show unique.* ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' was a series that literally rewrote the rules on how to tell a dramatic story on television. It won a truckload of Emmy awards, spawned a host of imitators, and launched Dennis Franz's career, as well as the catchphrase "Let's be careful out there." Even more importantly, NBC chose to renew it despite (like ''Cheers'') terrible ratings because it was so damn good. Just about every subsequent police procedural program (''Series/LawAndOrder'', ''Series/TheWire'', etc.) owes its existence to ''Hill Street Blues''. While the show was revolutionary in 1981, it can seem downright quaint to the modern viewer.* ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet''. When it started, it was acclaimed for its gritty, realistic depiction of police politics, rule-bending, and personal lives, as well as for making good use of arc stories. Nowadays, all of these things are pretty much standard in TV dramas in general, not just {{Police Procedural}}s. And compared to its spiritual descendant, ''Series/TheWire'', it practically looks like Film/TheKeystoneCops.** There is that other acclaimed '90s police drama, ''Series/NYPDBlue''. When it debuted, it was ground-breaking not just for being character driven and gritty in much the same way as ''Homicide'', but for being willing to push the envelope with things such as violence, sex and nudity, and profanity. Whilst ''network'' series have been reluctant to try the same things since the show went off the air (all this envelope-pushing incurred ABC some heavy FCC fines), all the things that ''NYPD Blue'' is notable for can be seen almost ubiquitously on Cable television. * ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' was groundbreaking when it was created. But it has produced so many imitations, including ones like ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' aimed at demographics far younger than what the original was aimed at, that most new viewers of the show are likely to be familiar with the ideas behind it before they ever see it. This naturally dilutes the humor, particularly the pairing of Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows. Gleason himself said people would never believe a pretty woman like Alice would marry a guy like Ralph. [[UglyGuyHotWife It's so common nowadays, it's a trope]].* ''Series/ILoveLucy'' is perhaps the oldest surviving television sitcom. It was the first one recorded on film for posterity, which means that its three-camera setup, which was revolutionary at the time and was developed by producer and star Desi Arnaz, looks completely unremarkable to us today as it is the format used for virtually every sitcom ever since. The fact that it was filmed, instead of broadcast live, also allowed the invention of the ReRun; Dezi came up with the then-mindblowing idea of ''broadcasting a popular episode a second time'' to cover for the fact that Lucille Ball was recovering from the birth of their first child. Additionally, many of the situations used in the series have also become standard stories in every sitcom made since: character getting pregnant and people rushing like idiots to get her to the hospital when she is about to give birth, men and women changing jobs for a day, travel episodes... Back then, these ideas were brand new, but nowadays they look literally like the clichés that later shows made them into. * ''Franchise/KamenRider''. There's a similar argument for this franchise as well, or maybe a subversion. The Showa era formula (cyborg/scientifically augmented human battles the terrorist organization that altered him) has been done to death and is now avoided in the Heisei era shows, to the point that either part of the phrase "Masked Rider" sometimes doesn't apply to a specific series (though some of that is more resulting from the factor of Bandai needing to Shout "BUY OUR TOYS"). Which makes the Showa Riders revival manga ''Manga/KamenRiderSpirits'' so appealing: it takes the phrase "Kicking it old school" and ''runs with it''. Recent series have more played with Elements of Showa-era Kamen Rider, with ''W'', ''Fourze'' and ''Drive'' In example being built from the ground up as modernizations of Shotaro Ishinomori's Motif's and ideals.** Within the franchise itself : ''Ryuki''. it's Battle Royale "riders fighting each-other" Plot has been done in most series that followed it, and the fandom as a whole are sick of it as the Grand majority of them have been *AWFUL*. The irony in this case is most of the series to follow Ryuki actually did it ''better'' than ''Ryuki'' did, mostly because Ryuki, from concept to execution, was made in open contempt for the shows before it, while the ones after ''Ryuki'' actually tried more to respect the franchise's legacy and core ideology. Thus, for many, ''Ryuki'' is obsolete; especially in the face of the ''Super Hero Taisen'' movies where their watch-word seems to be "Make every character that was supposed to be a Paragon of heroism into a twisted reflection of their own Villains", which has only decreased many fan's enjoyment of that entry to all-new lows.* When ''Series/LawAndOrder'' first appeared in 1990, it was unthinkable to have a show so willing to discuss controversial topics such as abortion, racism, corruption and child abuse. Since then, shows like ''Series/TheWire'' have gone further with the "Crime Drama as a social platform" concept than anyone could have imagined.* ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'': Nowadays it seems like a boring show, especially since Disney has copied its format (female protagonist, female best friend, male best friend[=/=]possible love interest) for every one of their shows, but it was different from all the shows on the Creator/DisneyChannel back when it came out. The trio dynamic with the JustFriends love interest looks pretty old hat now that ''Series/{{iCarly}}'', ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'', ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'', ''Series/PhilOfTheFuture'', and even WesternAnimation such as ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' and ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' all have identical or near-identical dynamics as ''Lizzie [=McGuire=]'' did for their friendship and eventual romance arcs, and all of them started after ''Lizzie [=McGuire=]''. What many don't realise is just how pervasive SlapSlapKiss-styled couples were in the late '90s (and how lacking JustFriends couples were), such as in ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' which was already four years old by the time ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'' started, ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' which started in '96, or ''Series/TheNanny''.* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': In a world with ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', and ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', it's pretty hard to imagine a time where this was on the cutting edge of irreverent, politically incorrect comedies (and FOX's first successful sitcom). And it didn't help that ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' (also a victim of the SeinfeldIsUnfunny trope) immediately stole ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''[='=]s title as "''the'' politically incorrect FOX DomCom about a dysfunctional family living in a CrapsackWorld [[WorldGoneMad Gone Mad]] filled with biting social satire and subversions on sitcom conventions and tropes." Part of the problem was that, even in its day, ''Married With Children'' was something of a RuleAbidingRebel, happily sprinkling in plenty of Middle American cornball humor (it ''was'' set in Chicago, after all) with the edgier stuff. No matter how rude or sexually explicit your show is, if you throw in talking dogs and slapstick gags that are literally out of cartoons, it's going to be hard to truly take you seriously.** ''Married With Children'' went through an evolution. It started out as a more serious comedy, but it couldn't compete with ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' for when it came to a dark DomCom about a dysfunctional family. Mild {{Flanderization}} in the first season turned into major Flanderization in subsequent seasons. * Almost as much as the TropeNamer, ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'' has fallen victim to this trope. When it aired during the early 1970s, it made an enormous cultural splash in its depiction of a single 30-something year old woman who was more interested in having a fulfilling career than landing a husband, garnering the outrage of MoralGuardians and significantly contributing to the infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Purge Rural Purge]]. The show's critical acclaim and insanely high ratings were even cited as key factors in the rise of UsefulNotes/{{feminism}} during the 1970's. However, it may be difficult for modern audiences accustomed to much riskier shows like ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' and ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' to understand just how revolutionary and controversial ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' was when it first aired. To see how far network television has come in terms of risky content, one needs to look no further than the ExecutiveMeddling that surrounded the reasoning for Mary being single. The original intent was for her to be newly divorced. However, the network felt such a plot would significantly diminish the show's family appeal (remember, this is when divorce still had a very negative stigma attached to it), so it was retooled to Mary being single by virtue of a broken engagement. Seems pretty quaint, given what women on network television (let alone Cable) are capable of doing today, huh? Another reason the divorcee angle was dropped was because Mary Tyler Moore was coming off a long run on ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' and there were fears that viewers would misinterpret the show's premise as "Rob and Laura got a divorce". (This was one of the reasons Van Dyke himself [[WhatCouldHaveBeen wasn't picked up]] as newly divorced NeatFreak Felix in the film version of ''Series/TheOddCouple''.)* ''Series/MiamiVice'': That the show now seems to be chock full of '80s clichés belies the fact that it ''invented'' those clichés: the use of designer fashion for the leads, the cinematic visuals and montages, and famously, the no-earth-tones color palette. In 1984, when the pilot episode aired, it was downright ''revolutionary''. No TV show had ''ever'' used a whole contemporary pop song that way, or seemed so much more like a movie than a TV show.* ''Music/TheMonkees'', believe it or not, was extremely influential, as the group’s television-music combo format was seen back then as a brand new way to market music for their teenage audience. It worked almost too well (they sold over 35 million records in 1967 alone, beating out Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheRollingStones ''combined'' that year!), as nearly every other popular music franchise [[MusicVideoTropes would copy this]]. Their televised "music videos", or "romps", are considered by many to be [[OlderThanTheyThink the first of their kind]]. In fact, ''The Monkees'' had influenced a lot more in this genre than most people realize. In the late 1970s, Monkee Creator/MichaelNesmith took this concept and created some of the first music videos, leading to the very ''first'' music video program ''[=PopClips=]'', which aired in 1979–81 on a then (very) young Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}. Apparently, Nesmith’s ideas were so brilliant that the [[ExecutiveMeddling powers that be]] stole and warped his series to create [[Creator/{{MTV}} a "certain network" which was launched in 1981]]. The Monkees ''by their very presence'' was revolutionary on TV in another way, in the sense that at the height of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and the youth counter culture, the show "brought long hair into the living room". The expressions, fashions, slang, and philosophies of the subversive, free-thinking, countercultural, anti-war, proto-"hippie" teenage youth as heroes of a sitcom on American TV show was a refreshing change of pace from the conservative pace of most TV shows of the time. Micky Dolenz later commented that long hair was back then synonymous with "crimes against nature", and as they took more control of the show they allowed the revolution of TheSixties to enter Middle America.* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' was, in its day, a genuinely innovative, intelligent, and surreal sketch comedy show which pioneered several comedy techniques, including subverting the form by running credits at the "wrong" point in the show, putting spoof entries in TV listings magazines, having sketches without a punchline, and poking fun at typical comedy clichés. Those that it didn't create, it certainly popularized, to the extent that plenty of others lacking the panache and originality of the original ensemble have shamelessly aped their work. It says much that a highlight and selling point of a 20th anniversary compilation was that it ''didn't'' contain the (in)famous Parrot Sketch, which many people can quote by memory, even if they would at this stage rather forget it. Also, much of the verbal humor doesn't translate cross culturally. This ultimately led to a subversion of the Dead Parrot sketch in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTV3lQc4AmQ the troupe's famed Secret Policeman's Ball 1989 performance]] [[spoiler: After Creator/JohnCleese proclaims that the parrot he just purchased is dead, Creator/MichaelPalin examines it, then ''agrees'', gives him his money back, and the sketch ends]]. This trope is explained as well as anywhere by Terry Jones:-->''"One of the things we tried to do with the show was to try and do something that was so unpredictable that it had no shape and you could never say what the kind of humor was. And I think that the fact that 'Pythonesque' is now a word in the Oxford English Dictionary shows the extent to which we failed."''* ''Series/MrRobot'' has an in-universe subversion. Leon has only recently discovered ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' and is blown away by tropes that so many people have long since internalized.* ''Series/{{Oz}}''. Aside from being HBO's first one-hour drama, it was shocking in 1997 to have a show which so blatantly depicted drug use, male-on-male rape, extreme violence, and deeply reprehensible protagonists. Since then both ''Series/TheSopranos'' and ''Series/TheWire'' have outshined it in acclaim thus dooming the brilliantly acted, well written series to being known for its more superficial elements and retroactive recognition of famous cast members.* ''Series/TheRealWorld'', among the [[TropeMaker very first]] {{Reality Show}}s. It was just a Reality Show, no other gimmick, just a bunch of kids sitting around in a house acting pissy at each other. Revolutionary in 1993, every Reality Show you've ever seen only more boring today.** Same thing has happened to ''RealPeople'', which became a Wednesday night staple on NBC between 1979 and 1984.* ''Rich Man, Poor Man'' was the first miniseries, an exploration of long-form storytelling that's become completely standard today. As well, one of its biggest selling points was its frank depiction of sexuality, with the MoralGuardians up in arms over characters talking about "nailing" each other and a white woman considering an affair with a black man. Nowadays, of course, all that seems remarkably tame.* ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn''. Although these days it seems pretty predictable and safe, in the late 1960s it was very decidedly neither. Moreover, if there wasn't ''Laugh-In'' first, we probably wouldn't have had ''Monty Python'' or ''Saturday Night Live''.* ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' managed to do this to itself. The early seasons were notable simply for the fact that drag queens were being shown in a realistic light rather than just being shown as stereotypes. As the series went on, the quality of drag fashion has increased considerably, to the point where many of the looks on the earlier seasons look dated by comparison. For example, Tyra Sanchez won Season 2 wearing what was effectively a one-pice bathing suit with a cape around the waist, something queens get absolutely roasted for if they try to pull off today.** Case in point: Raja. Her runway look during season 3 were revolutionary, and she was really the first queen to show that drag could be fashion-forward and creative. Nowadays there have been so many high-fashion queens on the show that Raja's looks aren't nearly as groundbreaking as they used to be.* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. In its early days, it was considered revolutionary, groundbreaking, and taboo due to its willingness to just say and/or do anything crazy, stupid, and/or controversial and hope the censors don't crack down on them. Through modern eyes, those old episodes can seem terribly dull thanks to ''SNL''[='=]s many dueling shows that try to capture its humor (i.e., ''Fridays'', ''Series/InLivingColor'', ''Series/{{MADtv}}'', ''Series/MrShow'', etc). * ''Series/SavedByTheBell'': The show that started the whole "tween" show craze (heck, that word didn't even exist back then). Lizzie, Series/HannahMontana, Series/{{iCarly}}, even Power Rangers - they all owe their existence to this show.* ''Music/SClub7'' and their TV show popularised the idea of a modern musical TV series. While a BandToon was nothing new and The Monkees had a similar TV series, S Club 7's TV show was something quite new. In 1999 musicals were essentially for old folks and the idea of combining the genre with current music and tacking on sitcom hijinks was something different. And of course a cast of attractive young singers. The musical numbers in this amount to the band either performing their own songs on a stage or singing them during trippy scenes. Yet the likes of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' and ''Series/HighSchoolMusical'' who explored this format better were likely heavily influenced by it.* ''Series/{{SCTV}}''. Speaking of network TV sketch shows that suffer from Seinfeld Is Unfunny syndrome, when it premiered in Canada (and later, the United States), the sketch comedy show was a critical and commercial hit. By mixing [[DeconstructiveParody deconstructive parodies]] of popular and lesser-known works with [[CanadaEh absurdly specific Canadian-centric humor]], the show won over a lot of fans (it also helped that ''SNL'' had plunged into SeasonalRot in the 1980s, so shows like ''SCTV'' and ''Fridays'' became favorite substitutes for ''SNL''). The show was lauded for having a stellar cast (who would all go on to successful movie and television careers, making it a who's-who of comedy talent, much like ''SNL''), and being a trailblazer for new concepts in sketch comedy (i.e. running gags that spanned the entire episode, long camera shots in sketches, and more absurdist humor than what one would find on ''SNL'' or even ''Monty Python''). Today, many viewers would look at the series and think it's either too quaint or boring (because the nature of the sketches and jokes - which reference late 1970s and early 1980s subculture - fly right over their heads), even though the series essentially created the foundation of modern Canadian comedy shows.* ''Series/SesameStreet''. Every single children's television show today owes a tremendous debt to this program for blazing the trail. Now that everybody does it, it's hard to remember that ''Sesame Street'' '''invented''' quality, research-based, curriculum-based, educational, and most importantly, entertaining children's TV that has a visibly ethnically diverse cast and doesn't talk down to its audience. Making it even harder to remember all this is the fact that ''Sesame Street'' has pretty much [[SeasonalRot evolved into]] ''The Elmo Show''.* The 1992 Australian RealityShow ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121029/ Sylvania Waters]]'' suffers the same fate as ''Series/TheRealWorld''.* Much of the humor, even the political bits, of ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' seems so dated and unfunny today that you would be forgiven for thinking CBS was trying to spare the audience by censoring them. But even doing some of the political bits was risky enough for most TV at the time, which steered clear of anything political. Thanks to Tom and Dick, it's routine now. That said, the show's also a subversion, with some portions that were censored in reruns decades later. Infamously, the punchline to a sketch featuring the first interracial marriage was [[Creator/SteveMartin the priest]] asking for a noose instead of the wedding ring.* When ''Series/TheSopranos'' came out in 1999, it was rather unusual for a television show to feature a morally questionable protagonist, especially a criminal. For instance, ''Series/{{Profit}}'' had also dabbled in the concept just a few years before, but was cancelled after just one season. It was so unusual that David Chase had to fight HBO about whether or not Tony could commit a murder in the fifth episode of the series because HBO was scared of putting off fans. Over the years, series with anti-heroes and villain protagonists have become dime a dozen, with popular series like ''Series/TheShield'', ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'', ''Series/HouseOfCardsUS'', and perhaps most of all, ''Series/BreakingBad'' (which has all but eclipsed ''The Sopranos''[='=] place in popular culture) all featuring protagonists that commit criminal acts up to and including murder on a nearly weekly basis. * ''Franchise/StarTrek'':** [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The original series]] has a {{camp}} reputation, and has been endlessly parodied and mocked. People forget that ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' was THE trailblazer that has influenced ''every'' science fiction series after it (and even influenced non-sci-fi shows as well) up to this day. In 1967, three of the five nominees (including the winner) for the Hugo Award (awards for science fiction and fantasy) for Best Dramatic Presentation (which at the time included both television episodes ''and'' movies) were episodes of ''Star Trek''. In 1968, the show did even better: '''all five''' nominees for Best Dramatic Presentation were ''Star Trek'' episodes. In fact, society has changed so much that some of the most radical and innovative things it did are now almost entirely overlooked. A black woman, as a military officer? Said black woman, kissing a white man, at a time when that kind of thing would get you arrested (or worse) in large parts of the United States? [[note]]Though it helped that [[Creator/WilliamShatner Shatner]] at the time refused to do that scene any other way, intentionally screwing up the scene if he wasn't allowed to do it his way. He felt it was what Kirk would do.[[/note]] The show's portrayal of race was so far ahead of its time that when Nichelle Nichols considered leaving the show to return to musical theater, Martin Luther King Jr. himself insisted to her that she needed to stay, telling her that the show's depiction of ethnic relations was not only unprecedented, but exactly the kind future he dreamed of, and that ''Star Trek'' was the only show he and Coretta let their children stay up to watch. The original pilot had a FEMALE first officer. It also avoided (see ''Babylon 5'' above) "Cute Kids And Robots", at least among the regular cast, which was one reason science fiction fans at the time considered it a better, more serious show than [[Series/LostInSpace much of the science fiction]] on television.** On the other hand, the German(-French) seven-part series ''Series/{{Raumpatrouille}} - Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffs Orion'' (French title: ''Commando spatial''), which was produced at the same time (its first episode was aired on [[GermanMedia German TV]] nine days after that of ''Star Trek'' in America), is regarded by many German fans as equal to the original ''Star Trek'' in many respect and superior in some, most notably the roles played by its female characters. ''Raumpatrouille'' also gradually acquired a bit of a camp appeal as, due to its own budget limitations, some prominent spaceship parts are not hard to recognize as household implements.** Hell, even ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]''. At its time, it was noted for taking everything about the old series and modernizing it (as well as adding some twists of its own). Nowadays, with spinoffs doing the same thing and other shows going further where it could never go, the only thing it has going for it is Creator/PatrickStewart. Also, it's hard to understand how [[WhamEpisode hard-hitting]] and ''terrifying'' the CliffHanger ending of "The Best of Both Worlds: Part I" was since the subsequent Trek spinoffs started making regular use of such endings.* ''Series/TheState'' was actually a pretty controversial show for its time, and pushed the envelope for what could be shown on TV, even cable. It actually attracted quite a few negative reviews in the media for this alone, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity of which it marketed itself off]]. Today though it looks pretty tame, and not much worse than the more raunchy sketches on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. In fact despite the horrendous NetworkDecay since it's been on, ''The State'' doesn't really go much further in controversy than most '''current''' programming on Creator/{{MTV}}, and it's safe to say anyone in the target demographic today probably won't see what the big deal is.* The ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' franchise (and to a lesser extent, {{toku}}satsu shows in general) suffers from this, but not because of imitators but rather, '''itself''': it has ''[[LongRunner lasted for so long]]'' that it takes genuine effort to create an original premise and sustain it. This is likely why so many of the newer series eschew tech-driven stories in favor of fantasy, along with the advent of CG over PeopleInRubberSuits.** Within the franchise, ''Series/HimitsuSentaiGoranger'' is this trope - there's no giant robots, the suits aren't made of spandex, the lack of a SixthRanger, and the lack of sparks from when a ranger gets hit by an enemy attack. Admittedly, most of these changes were introduced ''after'' ''Goranger'', and in the case of the special effects, it's more because at the time, ''Goranger'' couldn't do due to said effects not being within ''Goranger'''s budget, but overall, time has not been kind to this show.* ''Series/{{Survivor}}''. A decade after its first American broadcast, it's hard to imagine that it was ever considered shocking or innovative. Viewers found it horrifying that people were VotedOffTheIsland based on politics instead of merit, with the "evil alliance" being some of the most hated people in TV history. Every media critic in America, whether they loved ''Survivor'' or hated it, regarded it as a sign of deep troubles and neuroses within modern Western civilization. After all the FollowTheLeader clones, people take it for granted that you can get people to do disgusting or amazing things just by waving one million dollars in front of them. Even the squarest of suburban Americans are now hip to the show's "morality", and the "villains" have for them gone from being truly offensive to being characters they LoveToHate.** Even amongst Johnny-come-lately ''Survivor'' fans, it can be difficult to get into the earlier seasons. If you watch ''Borneo'' and ''The Australian Outback'' (the first and second seasons, respectively) you'll notice the game was ''majorly'' different back then than it is now. The Tribal switch was actually seen as the '''big twist''' of ''Africa'' (season 3). Nowadays it's in almost ''every season'' of ''Survivor'', partly because it made things a bit less one-sided at the merge. (The game was dominated by the remnants of one team at the merge in ''Borneo'' and ''The Australian Outback''. When the power shifts, it becomes more interesting to watch.) When one takes into account that there was nothing like hidden immunity idols or Exile Island... the first two seasons were actually kinda bland, weren't they? However, at the time, the main draw of ''Borneo'' and ''The Australian Outback'' [[FairForItsDay was still the premise itself]] (being stranded on a deserted island, being stranded in the wild, et cetera). ** Jerri Manthey references this phenomenon in the ''Heroes Vs Villains'' season. When Jerri first appeared in the ''Australia'' season, American viewers '''hated''' her - she schemed against other players, and was the first certifiable "villain" of the show (so much so that when she appeared on that season's reunion show, she was booed off the stage). In the following seasons, other players would up the stakes in terms of villainy, culminating in Corrine Kaplan's run in ''Gabon''[[note]]She openly dissed another contestant's dead father, and refused to apologize during the reunion show, crossing the MoralEventHorizon beyond a point that ''any'' contestant can cross.[[/note]] and Russell Hantz's run in ''Samoa''[[note]]He insulted fellow players, sabotaged his own team multiple times, tricked everyone, and generally acted like an entitled savior[[/note]]. Even at her worst, Jerri was never as nasty as Corinne or Russell, and her "villainy" is now run-of-the-mill - practically every player backstabs their fellow teammates at this point.** The American version of ''Series/BigBrother'' also gets this said about it, especially since there originally ''was'' no "power of veto" and there were almost ''no'' "twists" to speak of in the first two and three seasons. Considering how radically different it is, it can be very hard to appreciate the concept of the early ''Big Brother'' seasons. And not ''just'' in the American version where it's more competitive. (There was ''some'' degree of competition in the Brazilian ''Big Brother'' still.)* With the barrage of crime comedy dramas set in quirky rural or urban (or really any highly localized) settings that have hit the airwaves in German television nowadays, it is hard to imagine that setting a crime drama in one specific place (and frequently alluding to the specifics of said place) was actually new and innovative when ''Series/{{Tatort}}'' first came up with it. Workplace banter and flawed private lives of the cops (to say the least) were also so controversial at first, that they were only very gradually introduced. Now some shows have to resort to the main character literally having been in a coma for twenty years to make at least some of those tropes new and original again. If someone who did not grow up in the Eighties watches a Schimansky Tatort today, they will ask how getting hit in the face and replying with [[PrecisionFStrike Scheiße]] was such a big deal it basically built the movie career of Götz George.** TheCoroner being a major character is now also a major It's been done that people won't realize how revolutionary (and downright wacky and illogical if you look at it) the team Thiel/Börne of the Münster Tatort was when it was introduced. They had to jump through some hoops to make it at least somewhat plausible. Börne and Thiel have flats next to each other in a house Börne owns (IOW he is Thiel's landlord) and the murders [[ContrivedCoincidence just so happen]] to involve quite a bit of forensics on a regular base (and if they don't Börne's high society skills come in handy). The writers ''still'' felt the need to give Thiel a regular cop sidekick initially, who has since been written out. Nowadays, there is even a series about the guy who cleans a murder site after the crimes.* At the time ''Series/{{Taxi}}'' premiered, Creator/DannyDeVito's height wasn't well known, so he spent most of the pilot inside the dispatcher cage, and when he stepped down the stairs he got a ''big'' laugh from the audience.* Many classical ''[[SoapOpera Telenovelas]]'' were kind of edgy at the time, like ''El Derecho de Nacer'' and its oblique references to abortion, the heroines empowering themselves by studying and working like ''Simplemente Maria'' instead of merely marrying into riches like every other one, villain protagonists like ''Rubí'', and "bedroom scenes" consisting on two characters merely embracing together with a ModestyBedsheet (quite scandalous in the era of SleepingSingle). Today, those stories are hardly edgy. Many remakes of old ''telenovelas'' have to place the action on rural settings instead of the urban ambient they originally were, because even the broadcasters have to acknowledge that nowadays those are the only places where people would be GenreBlind enough for the plot to work.* ''Series/TheTwilightZone''. The original was shocking. The best episodes still are, but once the show was known long enough for everyone to expect a KarmicTwistEnding OnceAnEpisode, the writing had to be that much better for the episodes to still work than they needed to be first time around. And the ante keeps getting upped, because viewers get savvier with the conventions and because other works go ever farther...** At the time ''The Twilight Zone'' aired, American TV was saturated with anthology series showcasing one-off dramatic or science fiction teleplays. ''The Twilight Zone'' gave period viewers a new take on what they saw all the time, its biggest innovation of all.* The ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' suffers really badly from this, [[AmericansHateTingle especially in the West]]. To many, it looks [[{{Narm}} goofy]] and [[ClicheStorm stereotypical]], but it established so many reoccurring elements in Japanese television, influenced the '70s [[HenshinHero Henshin Boom]], and successfully brought {{Kaiju}} to the small screen, such that its impact can be difficult to appreciate. Not helping is that in an age of high-quality CGI, the still-used rubber suits and miniature sets look ridiculous to many. Fortunately, in Japan, it still remains [[CashCowFranchise insanely popular]], so it's not going to become DeaderThanDisco anytime soon.* ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' and ''Series/TheWeakestLink'' both introduced the [[MundaneMadeAwesome Dramatic Lighting and Music]] that would be used by every prime-time game show that came after them (''[[Series/OneVersusAHundred 1 vs. 100]]'', ''Series/DealOrNoDeal'', ''Series/MinuteToWinIt'', et cetera). At the time it was quite epic. Now it's so common it's [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire actually a trope]].** ''Millionaire'' also popularized dragging out TheReveal to increase suspense, and especially using a CommercialBreakCliffhanger to do so. The masses of imitators doing the same has turned this technique into a cliche and a DiscreditedTrope.* ''Series/WillAndGrace'' is considered offensive by some people for its portrayal of gay men as shallow and superficial. It was the [[FairForItsDay first American TV show to]] ''[[FairForItsDay have]]'' [[FairForItsDay gay leads]]. Without it, more serious gay live media (''Series/TheLWord'', ''Film/BrokebackMountain'', etc.) would never have gotten off the ground.** Before that, ''Soap'' also had Billy Crystal as a gay lead, in a much less cliche role. The character later went straight.* ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' was considered anarchic and subversive in the early 1980s. In comparison with their successor ''Series/{{Bottom}}'' many of the violent scenes (Vyvyan destroying something or hitting Rick over the head) can seem rather tame today.* The concept of professional partners eventually developing a romantic relationship is almost a requirement in crime dramas/FBI procedurals nowadays, but in the days of ''Series/TheXFiles''' Mulder and Scully, it was a new idea. And it goes back further than that. ''Series/{{Moonlighting}}'' was the first to have partners hooking up, but other shows had similar WillTheyOrWontThey tension.* People who grew up with more recent kid-focused sketch shows may have a hard time appreciating how influential ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'' was. In addition to being the show responsible for creating "green slime" (which would be a staple on Nickelodeon for quite some time), the show was one of the first successful sketch comedies to feature an all kid cast (plus two adults in the form of the late Les Lye and Abby Hagyard). The show was also notable for pushing quite a few boundaries in terms of taste (for a kid show, at least), with toilet humor and GettingCrapPastTheRadar moments a'plenty. It was Nickelodeon's most popular show until 1986 (when ''Series/DoubleDare1986'' overtook it) and, even after its cancellation in 1990, remained in constant reruns until it was firmly taken off the air in 1994. Unfortunately, the popularity of its spiritual successor ''Series/AllThat'', along with other Nick shows that followed its basic mold, seems to have seriously put a damper on the public's recollection of the show. A matter not helped by the fact that, after reruns were taken off the air, Nick has rarely made any further mention of the series (despite still utilizing its most famous running jokes during their annual Kid's Choice Awards) and [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes has yet to release the series on DVD (although the first batch of episodes are available for download on Amazon.com).]] Today, the show is, somewhat strangely, remembered mostly for being where Music/AlanisMorissette launched her showbiz career. With many forgetting the impact it had on children's television in the 80's.

!!Technology* On American TV shows of the [[TheSixties mid/late 1960s]] and [[TheSeventies early 1970's]], boasts of "in color." Viewers who have grown up on color TV are likely to have a reaction of, "Um, okay?" In the mid-1960s, however, many shows were still in black-and-white, making the changeover to color significant. Reruns of shows from that period generally leave off the "in color" intro. The real motivation for this kind of thing was to let people who still had black and white [=TVs=] know just what they were missing - at least, when the point had been reached when the "in color" boast continued to appear while ''everything'' was in color anyway.* [[TurnOfTheMillennium The mid/late 2000's]] and [[TheNewTens the early 2010's]] saw programs boast, "Now in UsefulNotes/HighDefinition" for ''exactly'' the same reason. Though "high", being a relative term, will surely age even worse than "in color" as future technology ''surpasses'' it. "Presented in HD" was the norm for a short time back when channels being aired in high definition was groundbreaking. Nowadays, nobody really thinks about it due to a lot of channels being broadcasted in HD.* "In Stereo Where Available" was used quite often from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s when television sets were being produced with stereo speakers and it was considered groundbreaking at the time since more dynamic sound added to the immersion of the program or movie people were watching. "In Surround Sound" was also used when home theater sound systems took off. Nowadays, nobody bothers making announcements that their programs have stereo or surround sound since such features are a standard in televisions now.* "This program is [[UsefulNotes/ClosedCaptioning closed captioned]] for the hearing impaired." Since it is legally required for many programs, most networks in America don't bother with a logo denoting a show was captioned any longer, and only the Turner networks still use the National Captioning Institute's [[http://www.jenriggio.com/MULTIMEDIA_ASL/closedcaptioning.htm "screen and speech balloon" logo]], which was nearly ubiquitous in the 80s and 90s.* KeepCirculatingTheTapes - in the age of online streaming, digital releases, DVD collections, and even DVR, it's hard to imagine just how ''big'' it was to be able to ''tape'' a TV show or a movie that aired on TV. ----